Family, friends, and police officers from around the nation poured into the Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens to pay respects to NYPD police officer Rafael Ramos at his wake Friday.
He and Officer Wenjian Liu were assassinated last week by a killer allegedly inspired by the recent protests over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Quincy Police are one of many departments sending down a group to support the Ramos family. Fifty officers will leave around 4 a.m. Saturday.
"We did a volunteer sign up sheet. Fifty officers, which is the largest contingent I've ever seen, to go to a funeral, and we've hired a bus, and they're all going to go down early in the morning, 4 o'clock in the morning, the day of the funeral," Quincy Police Lt. Jack Sullivan said.
He expects this funeral to be one of New York’s largest, with tens of thousands of police officers attending from around the country.
"When it's an assassination like this, where it's just out-and-out, just sitting there in your car, doing nothing and then being targeted for no other reason than you had that uniform on, that does hurt and that hits home a lot worse than when it's in the line of duty," Lt. Sullivan said.
Mayor Marty Walsh sent his condolences to the family as well.
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"One thing that the police and fire and public safety officials have is a very close bond and so I know we have a large amount of Boston police officers and I think other police officers from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts going down to support the family," Walsh said, adding, "It's very sad, and my heart goes out to them."
Boston and state police are also sending officers to New York, as are other local departments. Vice President Joe Biden will also attend his funeral. Services for Officer Liu are still to be scheduled, so expect to see another outpouring for his funeral as well.
